Cisco CTO Warrior: Software-Only SDN Has ‘Limitations’

VMware’s introduction Aug. 26 of its NSX network virtualization platform ignited another round of speculation over whether the partnership between the company and networking giant Cisco Systems was fraying as the vendors compete in new markets.

VMware’s software-based offering—a combination of its own technology and that acquired last year when company bought software-defined networking (SDN) startup Nicira—came with a healthy list of support from such partners as Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Juniper Networks, Brocade and Arista Networks.

Noticeably absent was Cisco, which has partnered with VMware in such areas as its Unified Computing System (UCS) converged infrastructure solution, cloud computing and desktop virtualization, as well as the creation of the company VCE. However, NSX promises to compete directly with Cisco’s Open Network Environment (ONE) SDN effort, leading to renewed talk that what had been a close relationship between Cisco, VMware and storage giant EMC—which owns VMware—is falling apart.

“For all the lip service given to [the Cisco-VMware alliance], that partnership for all intents and purposes is done,” Zeus Kerravala, principal analyst with ZK Research, told eWEEK after the NXS announcement, adding that both companies want to be the “control points” in the data center. “That relationship is all but over.”

VMware executives downplayed any potential conflict with Cisco, and the two companies the next day issued a press release naming several large enterprises that are using joint solutions from both vendors in such areas as private cloud, desktop virtualization and the data center.

Cisco CTO Padmasree Warrior, in a post on the company’s blog Aug. 29, also pushed back at the speculation, saying that VMware is “an important partner to Cisco, and we expect to continue our close collaboration around private cloud and desktop virtualization.”

However, Warrior also said the two companies had different views of networking, and that there are significant limitations to VMware’s software-only approach with NSX. With ONE, Cisco is taking what executives say is an application-centric approach.

“Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI) is an innovative secure architecture that delivers centralized application-driven policy automation, management and visibility of physical and virtual networks,” Warrior wrote. “It’s built upon a fabric foundation that delivers best-in-class infrastructure by combining hardware, software and ASIC innovations into an integrated system. The architecture provides a common management framework for network, application, security and virtualization teams—making IT more agile while reducing application deployment time.”

There are a number of problems with software-based approaches to network virtualization, she said. It doesn’t scale, and on its own, doesn’t provide real-time visibility into both the physical and virtual infrastructure. There’s also a lack of such features as support for multiple hypervisors and integrated security, along with other problems.

“This loosely-coupled approach forces the user to tie multiple 3rd party components together adding cost and complexity in day-to-day operations as well as throughout the network lifecycle,” Warrior wrote. “Users are forced to address multiple management points and maintain version control for each of the independent components. Software network virtualization treats physical and virtual infrastructure as separate entities, and denies customers a common policy framework and common operational model for management, orchestration and monitoring.”